The Wilderness

Explosions In The Sky - The Wilderness
Critic Score
Based on 27 reviews
2016 Ratings: #310 / 1004
User Score
Based on 191 ratings
2016 Rank: #537
Liked by 4 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny
A beautiful record; you just wish the vocabulary existed to do it justice.
90
The Line of Best Fit

A current of vitality and renewal lights up The Wilderness. Here, finally, is the next phase for Explosions in the Sky. The album is thrillingly foreign yet familiar in its finest moments.

86
Sputnikmusic
Don’t let the band’s recent output fool you into looking past this…it is quite plainly a must hear post-rock album in a time when such important and relevant post-rock music is an endangered kind.
83
A.V. Club

Wilderness reimagines the calling cards of the band. All, that is, except for one: EITS still knows how to craft a beautiful atmosphere that demands to soundtrack something.

83
Consequence of Sound

For a group whose bread and butter has until now been the musical equivalent of a whisper building to an H-bomb explosion over the course of twelve minutes, The Wilderness proves that Explosions in the Sky aren’t stuck in any creative rut.

80
Pitchfork
It's a quietly masterful, emotionally rich work. Of all their records, it's ultimately the one that sounds the most like the image their band name evokes.
80
The Guardian
It works ... because the melodies are as strong as ever, and among the darker shades, the lighter moments wallop home.
80
AllMusic

On The Wilderness, Explosions in the Sky deconstruct and rebuild their sound from the ground up, giving it a revitalized sense of urgency and resulting in some of their most dynamic work yet.

80
musicOMH

They’ve retained this emotional resonance by remembering that it’s not just explosive crescendos that matter, but the small stuff too.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

Of all of Explosions’ studio albums, this is the one that sounds most like a score, even if it has components that would never appear in a score. It lacks the game-changing element of The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place or Those Who Tell the Truth. Instead of pushing into new universes, they’re content to find a quiet corner in one they’ve already built.

75
Entertainment Weekly

A record that sounds less like the remaking they billed it as and more like an explorative sidestep.

70
Drowned in Sound

Explosions In the Sky still retain their vitality in strong melody and melodramatic disposition, it’s just at times you wish they were a little more daring.

70
Rolling Stone

There are times when this stuff can feel like precious melodrama. But if it hits you in the right mood of pillowy existential bumfuzzlement, its power to distract and even transport is pretty undeniable.

70
PopMatters

There aren’t many explosions here, but there’s plenty of dynamic songwriting, which is more than enough for a rewarding listening experience.

65
Under the Radar

After a decade and a half, and now seven studio albums and counting, Explosions in the Sky proves it still has what it takes to deliver a stunningly deep and textured album.

60
Exclaim!

While it features some of Explosions' most exploratory music to date, the record is dragged down by passages that, despite the astro-nautical theme of the track titles, occasionally fail to reach the stratospheric heights Explosions are known for.

50
Loud and Quiet
After sixteen years of creating a beautiful kind of emotional ambiguity, this time there’s just indifference.
40
DIY

‘The Wilderness’ ... is Explosions hitting autopilot when they enter uncharted airspace, rather than exploring the potentially limitless universe beyond.

Plats
68

“The Wilderness” is a much needed improvement over the band's previous two records. It keeps the gorgeous atmospheres while upping the instrumentation and adding a healthy dose of great percussion work, even if Explosions in the Sky still lack in the originality department.

Fav Tracks: Logic of a Dream, Disintegration Anxiety, Wilderness, Colors in Space, Landing Cliffs

Least Fav Track: The Ecstatics

Score:
6.8
Decent

JayCrackers
68

The Wilderness sees Explosions In The Sky trying to expand their worn out sound a bit more by adding d electronic elements into the tracks and a more ambient feel with a stronger focus on their lush atmosphere, however i still don't find it necessary that engaging as The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place or Those Who Tell the Truth but it is a slight improvement to their previous album.

Track Review

Wilderness 7/10
The Ecstatics 7/10
Tangle Formations 6.5/10
Logic of a Dream ... read more

pinio985
70

The wilderness sounds wild!

pinio985
70

The wilderness sounds wild!

Blizzmusic
78

underrated

BenyoMax
70

I need some more listens on this thing but some moments on this record are great and it’s well paced. I love the opener, but it sets up the rest of the album a bit wrong. Expected something not necessarily darker but grayer. That middle section of logic in a dream where it gets really heavy is really cool and not exactly normal for this band. Overall though it’s pretty good and has its own identity as an album. Love this group man.

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Added on: January 11, 2016